I was telling someone about how I got chickenpox cause my ma made me hang out with my sister and sleep in her roomwhen she’d had it and they were like “YOUR MOM WAS ANTIVAX???”
And, like, no, calm down, fren. I’m just old. There hadn’t had a vaccine for chickenpox then
*Old Man Voice* Back in my day, we had to play Russian roulette with our kids about being one of the ~9K hospitalizations and or ~100 deaths a year from chickenpox. Also, everyone born in the mid-80s and earlier is prolly gonna get scabies, so, there’s that
Vaccinate your kids, guys!
Yep. I remember the week all 3 of us had chicken pox, and how freaked out my mom was bc we had just been to a bbq and I had held someone’s brand new baby.
Like I got home and found the first pox on my arms and side and my mom rightly freaked the whole hell out.
The baby was fine but our nerves were all on edge for a bit. I felt so guilty even though I had no way to know before I found the pox on my side.
And that’s the thing, the vaccine would have not just prevented me from suffering, but protected that baby who was too young. Couple kids in my class went to the hospital that summer, too.
Plus shingles are the worst, I’m told. Friends have had them. I want the shingles vaccine but i’m too young yet.
I still remember when my medical exam for immigration rolled round and they asked me why I hadn’t had the chicken pox vaccination on my form and I was like “a vaccination for what now?” Cause I had no idea there was one, and I had this genuine moment of happiness in thinking “that means less suffering for children. Amazing, what a time to be alive” and then they stuck me with the MMR booster shot because in order to legally enter the US you have to have all your vaccinations or you can’t come in.
Presumably to protect you from the locals at this point, cause there’s not just chicken pox outbreaks in my area atm, but measles and whooping cough too.
Whooping cough was another fun thing I got as a kid cause I couldn’t be vaccinated. And unfortunately I went to school with a lot of anti-vaxxer victims, who also got super sick and passed it on, meaning I spent a lot of time off school at the age of seven, coughing so hard I burst blood vessels in my eyeballs and feeling like every labored breath might be my last cause some ignorant fuck decided their personal purity and fake science was more important than protecting the life of their actual child and those around them.
Please vaccinate your children. And if you’re an adult, check and see you are up to date on your shots. Important ones like MMR need to be updated after a decade or so. It’s not just your life you’re saving.
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